Mobile heavy construction equipment of the aforementioned type can include one or more telescoping support members on struts which can be used to brace, support and similarly stabilize the vehicle body and/or frame with the specific apparatus for carrying out such operations as pumping concrete through an arm or a boom, crane movements, and the like while the vehicle or unit is standing. The stabilizer or support member or members are disposed substantially in vertical attitude while in their supporting role. The member or members are drawn clear of the ground when the unit is to be driven from one location to the next.
It is generally known to support the lower chassis or carriage, or similar portions of such vehicles, for mobile equipment when in the parked condition for performing the specific purpose of the unit at a given location. Such support has been afforded by way of extensible and retractable support arms or outriggers which are arranged laterally of the chassis and/or at corner points or at the rear and which have at their free ends vertically and downwardly extending support or base elements forming support feet which can be extended and retracted by means of piston-cylinder assemblies. These base elements provide the positional stability required for such heavy equipment.
When in the hitherto known mobile or vehicular equipment the support arms are swung in toward the chassis for travel of the vehicle space must be provided to accommodate the downwardly extending but lifted feet. This poses a problem because the rearwardly disposed carrier or support arms with their vertically and downwardly extending base elements can reach into the operating region of the rear axles and/or rear wheels so that a vehicle with rather large wheel-to-wheel distances must be used as the basic unit for the mobile equipment. This poses a handicap in many instances.